WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Inc (T.N) said on Monday it is confident a federal court reject the Justice Department’s expected challenge to its planned $85. 4 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc TWX.N.

The company’s general counsel, David McAtee, said the suit was “a radical and inexplicable departure from decades of antitrust precedent.” He added in a statement that the company saw “no legitimate reason for our merger to be treated differently” than other vertical mergers.